Stephanie Mills Calls Lady Gaga a ‘Culture Vulture’ After Alleged Disrespect

Lady Gaga has been one of the biggest pop stars of the last 25 years. Every millennial can recall exactly where they were when they heard “Poker Face” for the first time. In her prime, her hits never seemed to run out. Nowadays, she oscillates between acting and singing, recognized as an icon within pop music. But R&B legend Stephanie Mills begs to differ. In fact, she argued that Gaga has quietly been a culture vulture this entire time.

via: The Root

During Wednesday’s episode of “The Jason Lee Show,” Stephanie Mills recalled being asked to sing “Home,” her hit from Broadway’s “The Wiz,” for Lady Gaga during a fashion shoot in New York. Mills initially declined but eventually agreed to perform, only to find herself questioning the encounter with Gaga and her team. To make matters worse, Mills said Gaga’s team stopped her at the elevator and refused to let her leave until they allegedly watched her delete every photo from the encounter from her phone.

“I don’t even know if I should say it now,” Mills told Jason Lee nervously. “I feel like Lady Gaga is a culture vulture.” She continued: “She [Lady Gaga] had her little black dog there and all the other people. And I sang for her. She didn’t smile. She didn’t do anything. She looked at me like I had two heads.”

“And the thing was, the guy that was doing her photo shoot was gonna take a fashion shoot of me. I didn’t even get paid for it. That was the trade-off. So I finished singing ‘Home,’ and we took pictures. Before we left, they said, ‘You gotta delete all those pictures.’ We were at the elevator getting ready to leave, and they did not let us leave until they saw every picture being deleted.”

“Very disrespectful,” Mills said, shaking her head.

When Lee asked what their explanation was for the alleged shady behavior and request to delete the photos, the “I Feel Good All Over” songstress doubled down on her sentiments that Gaga is a “culture vulture.” Mills also made it clear that she wants Gaga to see the interview and take some accountability for how she was treated.

“I hope she watches, and I hope you remember what you did,” Mills said. “And I feel like you owe me an apology.”

Meanwhile, viewers in the comments were split, with some backing Mills and others coming to Gaga’s defense. “I choose to believe the black woman, sorry,” one fan wrote.

“I’ve had to be in Lady Gaga’s presence and yeah… shorty is odd lol. But how she handled the situation with Stephanie Mills is disrespectful too. I’ll never understand how people become famous and act unhuman like,” a second penned.

“Lady Gaga is not a culture vulture 🙄🙄🙄🙄. That lady is so unproblematic 🙄🙄🙄. Hang it up old lady NKT!!!!!” another fan pushed back.

“Stefanie, hang it up. She’s never been a culture vulture. Sit down. I agree that culture vultures are a thing, but this isn’t one of them in this moment,” another disagreed.

Whether fans agree with Mills’ “culture vulture” assessment or not, the singer has made it clear that the alleged encounter is still not sitting right with her. And if Gaga is listening, Mills has one thing left to say: an apology is overdue.